In-House Counsel
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May 09, 2024
OSC initiative: Early-stage businesses can raise up to $3M without registration as dealer
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing access to capital for early-stage businesses in Ontario, including exempting early-stage businesses from being registered as dealers under the Securities Act when raising capital to $3 million.
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May 09, 2024
N.B. looks to greater regulations for private career colleges
In the name of increased protections for post-secondary students, New Brunswick is proposing legislative changes that would mean greater regulation over private career colleges in the province.
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May 09, 2024
Terminated for failure to follow vaccination policy? No EI for you.
Are we done with COVID vaccination policy litigation? Not yet.
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May 09, 2024
Partial stays of procedure in favour of arbitration: All or nothing
What happens when a plaintiff brings an action where some of the relief sought falls within the scope of an arbitration clause, but the principal claim is unrelated? Does a judge let the action proceed in court on the basis that the essential character of the matter is non-arbitrable? Do they grant a stay in favour of arbitration because there is a sliver of matter that is subject to arbitration? Or, can the court grant a partial stay: can it stay those matters (and the relief sought) that are arguably subject to arbitration and let the rest go to court?
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May 09, 2024
How AI protections in new SAG-AFTRA agreement affect Canadian actors
“What’s the difference between theft and research?” went the old joke back in university. Answer: volume!
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May 08, 2024
Federal workers’ unions file legal challenges, complaints against three-day on-site work mandate
Unions representing 270,000 federal public service workers have filed a series of legal challenges in opposition to the government’s new mandate requiring its workers to report to the office three days per week, according to a release by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
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May 08, 2024
Licence lockdown: Status quo orders in cannabis proceedings
The spate of cannabis insolvencies over the past several years has seen a number of developments in Canadian insolvency law. One of the more recent developments is the increasing number of regulatory “status quo” provisions being sought and obtained by debtors.
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May 07, 2024
Sweeping national security bill would boost state investigative powers; expand & create crimes, AMPs
The federal government has introduced a sweeping national security bill that would create a publicly accessible “foreign influence transparency” registry; expand the warrant, production and disclosure powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS); affect criminal accused or judicial review applicants seeking access to relevant “information related to international relations, national defence or national security”; expand the current “sabotage” offence; and create new “foreign interference” offences, along with administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of up to $5 million and five years in prison, including for knowingly obstructing the operations of the office of a proposed new “Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.”
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May 07, 2024
Ontario privacy commissioner sides with province on disclosure of health-care staffing info
Ontario’s privacy watchdog has sided with the province in its attempts to keep information about staffing shortages in the health-care sector private.
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May 07, 2024
Ontario’s court rules arbitrator not free to ignore contract law, judge’s instructions
As a general principle, “domestic” arbitrations in Ontario — being those governed by the province’s Arbitration Act, 1991 — “must be decided in accordance with the law. Arbitrators are accorded broad deference for matters within their jurisdiction and in defining the scope of their jurisdiction. But they are not free to ignore the law or to decide cases in accordance with their whims.”